Ontario's Regulatory Registry

Regulation - LGIC

Mines and Mining Plants Regulatory Amendment Proposal

Amendments to the following provisions of Regulation 854 (Mines and Mining Plants) under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) have been approved:

 New requirements for mines and mining plants to conduct risk assessments and have formal traffic management programs;  Strengthening existing requirements regarding water management, including requiring underground mines to have a water management program, and ground control;  Enhancing and clarifying requirements regarding conveyors, specifically requirements for guarding and emergency stopping devices/pull cords; (which were part of an earlier consultation in late 2014/2015);  Updating training requirements for surface diamond drill operations to reflect changes to the modular training program; and  Amendments to several miscellaneous provisions to update terminology and certain industry standards, clarify certain requirements and revoke sections that are no longer necessary.

Most of the amendments will come into force July 1, 2016 except for those relating to risk assessments, water management, traffic management and ground control, which will come into force on January 1, 2017 to provide stakeholders with time to comply.

In addition, Schedule 68 of Regulation 950 under the Provincial Offences Act has also been amended. This is the schedule of offences for Regulation 854 (Mines and Mining Plants) under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and allows a Ministry of Labour health and safety inspector to issue a ticket to a specific workplace party where they observe a contravention in a workplace. Those amendments come into effect on October 1, 2016.

The Ministry of Labour is proposing various amendments to Regulation 854 (Mines and Mining Plants) under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. If approved, the proposed amendments would:

 Implement recommendations made by the Mining Legislative Review Committee;  Implement recommendations from the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review Final Report regarding risk assessments and requirements for certain high hazards, including water management, traffic management and recording of seismic events;  Update training requirements for surface diamond drill operations to reflect changes to the modular training program made by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU); and  Amend miscellaneous requirements to update terminology and certain industry standards and/or clarify certain requirements.

In addition, the proposal, if approved, would make corrections to and incorporate explicit references to appropriate workplace parties in the offences listed under Schedule 68 of Regulation 950 under the Provincial Offences Act.

See links below for more information on this proposal.

Notice to Consultation Participants:Personal information collected during this consultation is under the authority of Section 70 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and is in compliance with section 38 (2) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Please note that your comments, submissions, identity and organizational affiliation will become part of the public record and may be released during or following the consultation process.